


The Arrogance Within us All

by FlangstPrince



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Al is a human based homunculus, Brotherly Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Enemies to Friends to Family, Gen, Headcanons headcanons galore, Kinda?, Platonic Cuddling, Pride!Al, Restored Alphonse Elric, ah i love self indulgence, brotherly cuddles, diabetic ling, maes isnt dead he is just in a coma, more like he never completely lost his body, prides a little shit, you can pry that from my cold dead fingers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2019-10-31 03:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17841728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlangstPrince/pseuds/FlangstPrince
Summary: AU. "Father, my container is failing me. It won't last much longer.""Not to worry my child. It seems the time has come for you to lose your container, a new one will soon be ready."Alphonse and Edward pay a more equal toll for their human transmutation, leaving them both with bodies and missing limbs. But things can never be too easy for the Elric brothers. Homunculus!Al.





	1. Bullshit!

Alphonse was exhausted and extremely tired. He never knew getting kidnapped would be so exhausting. The ropes were biting into his skin and the wooden chair was stiff and uncomfortable. At the very least his hands were free but they were being intently watched by his opponent.

The man who'd claimed he was a (dog?) chimera squinted at him with interest before placing a card down on the table in front of them. "Four"

Al thought for a moment before placing three of his own cards down with his automail arm, "Five"

The squinted at him before calling out, "Bullshit!" Al smiled a little and flipped over his cards, all fives. The man threw his head back and groaned in agony.

"Discard piles' yours Dolcetto." the snake like woman on the other side smirked.

"Whatever Martel." Dolcetto grumbled, accepting his penalty. "How is this kid so good anyways, he's what? Fourteen? Have you even played this before?"

Al shook his head as Martel laid down two cards and claimed "Six."

Dolcetto sighed, "Then you've got to be cheating! It's the only explanation!"

Martel rolled her eyes, "There is literally no way he could be cheating, he's tied up. I think the reason he is so safe is because he hasn't called bullshit the whole game, and he plays the truth every time."

Dolcetto shrugged, "Why haven't you called bullshit anyhow kid?"

Al bit his lip, "I'm not a fan of cursing. My brother is the one who likes to run off his mouth."

Dolcetto barked a laugh at that. "Man you sure are a goody two shoes for someone who committed human transmutation."

Al went quiet, he was not discussing that with these people.

The woman beside them cleared her throat, "Anyways Alphonse, where is your brother, shouldn't he be here by now?"

"I don't know, I mean who knows how long he could take to get here…" he trailed off, feeling awkward.

A man across the room groaned, "Well he'd better hurry up. I need both of you and I don't like to be kept waiting. You two are my ticket to immortality." His sharp teeth gleamed in his smile.

Al muttered under his breath, "Not gonna happen." squeezing his automail and flesh hands together.

"What was that kid?" Dolcetto asked."

Al sputtered a bit, "Uh can I get another snack? I'm kinda hungry."

"Sure." The dog chimera passed the tray of cheese and crackers over to him. Al sandwiched the cheese in between two crackers and lifted it into his mouth, but ended up biting into his tongue as the metal door that was locking them inside flew to the other side of the room. The resulting clang was almost as startling as Edwards angry voice making demands.

"GIVE ME BACK MY LITTLE BROTHER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!" Edward stood at his full 4'11 height with his arm transmuted into a knife. His eyes quickly found Alphonse's.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What the hell are you doing playing games!?" Edward demanded.

"I was bored! And they offered! Who knew how long until-"

"Dude! This is a serious situation!" Ed argued.

"You were taking a while brother-"

"Okay ladies you're both pretty." Greed interrupted, "Listen kid, I had to lure you here somehow, and then we saw your little brother just wandering around all alone, we had to take the opportunity."

Ed scrunched up his nose, "What the hell do you want?"

"You two are skilled enough to attempt human transmutation, and survive. I need you two little geniuses to find a way to bring me immortality. It shouldn't be too hard, you both are prodigies after all. You give me that, and I let you and your little brother go."

Edward was quiet for a moment, "DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK I WAS GONNA HELP YOU AFTER YOU KIDNAPPED MY BROTHER!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NONE OF YOU ARE GETTING SHIT FROM MY BROTHER AND I! SO LET HIM GO!"

Greed groaned, "I hoped we wouldn't have to do this the hard way." His body was soon covered in thick, strong carbon as he charged at Edward. "Take his brother elsewhere."

"Alphonse!" Ed tried to go after him but was stopped by Greed's hand. "Not so fast brat."

Al called for his brother as he was taken away, his hands now bound as well. He was dragged into a place that stunk worse than the military locker rooms. It looked like they were down where the sewage was.

Alphonse found himself growing aggravated as Dolcetto and Martel spoke as if this were a simple and casual affair. The ropes were giving him burns on his skin and he couldn't take this shit anymore.

"Let go of me!" he scrambled, wiggled, and struggled, trying to get out of Dolcettos grip.

"Woah there kid, you ain't gonna get-" Al bit into the man's skin, as hard as he possibly could.

The dog chimera yelped like the animal he was mixed with and dropped Alphonse. He laughed a bit at his victory as he began to run away… at least he tried to. He ended up moving much like a worm down the edge of the tunnel.

"Damn it Dolcetto." Martel stepped towards Al but was caught up at the sight of Greed approaching. "Greed? What's wrong?"

The homunculus pointed behind him, "Things are getting a bit outta hand. FIrst the kid made the fight more interesting and then this old lady showed up and really started beating my ass. Short version, we've gotta split."

"I don't think you're going anywhere." A voice behind Greed surprised the homunculus. Alphonse looked up at the familiarity.

"Fuhrer Bradley!?" Al's eyes were wide.

"Huh?" Greed turned around, looking unimpressed. "Look I'm not into fighting old people, so we can just leave this here and we won't have to see each other ever again."

Then, Greeds hand was swiftly chopped off.

"Shit, okay then." Greed began to engage in combat once more.

Alphonse watched it all unfold it was insane, he was so fixated by it that he couldn't defend himself when he was grabbed and dragged away by Martel. She rushed him back towards where they came from, but quickly ran into Dolcetto and the cow chimera, Roa.

"The Fuhrer's shown up, we need to get the hell out of here." she explained.

"What?! Why would he be here!?"

"Guess that's what we get for messing with military dogs, even if they're just pups."

They all began to run but didn't make it very far before running into Bradley, who had gotten there almost inhumanly fast.

"Martel, run." Roa charged at the man alongside Dolcetto.

"But-" she gasped as Roa was completely decapitated.

Dolcetto jumped backwards, "Go!"

And she did.

She ran as fast as she could, Alphonse still over her shoulder. "Roa's gone, Dolcetto is probably gone too, where is Greed, what the hell happened to-"

"You run fast young lady." he pulled out his sword, "But I'm afraid nobody is able to outrun me."

She froze. And She was sliced through with the sharp, bloodied blade of Bradley's sword.

As she fell, Alphonse's face was coated in blood. And he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Al awoke in thankfully, a much warmer place. However, even though he was warm he still felt panicked. He jolted up and looked around, his breathing quick and heavy as warm and cold hands were placed on his shoulders.

"Hey." Edward brought his flesh hand up to Al's cheek, "It's okay now."

Al's breathing slowed as he processed where he was. He was in the bedroom he'd shared with his brother when they were training with teacher.

The blanket wrapped around him was big and fluffy and it seemed like all the pillows in he house had been piled onto the bed. He shook a bit with emotion before falling onto his brother.

Edward ran a hand through his brother's blonde hair, "It's okay Al, it's all gonna be alright. We're safe and nobody's gonna ever kidnap you again."

Al's entire body shook, "Brother, the Fuhrer, he-he killed every-"

"I know… I was questioned about it but it seems like he believed me." he rested his head atop Al's, "It almost seemed too easy."

Al looked up at his brother, his eyes urging Ed to go on.

"The whole situation was too weird to be a coincidence, how and why did Bradley show up when he did? How did he defeat Greed so easily? It all feels wrong." Ed held his brother closer.

Alphonse couldn't handle thinking about what his brother was implying right then. He gazed at Ed's destroyed arm, allowing his mind to wander a few years back. To a time that was a lot like this one.

_After the transmutation had initially taken Ed's right arm and left leg, along with his own left arm and right leg, things were tough._

_After Mustang had showed up they had both decided together to get automail and become state alchemists. The surgeries were done one after the other, Ed insisting he go first._

_The recovery was done together. Nightmares and intense pains were very common and they'd often end up sharing a bed and holding each other through it all._

_After the rough recovery, they'd both gone out to become state Alchemists, not taking no for an answer. Though in Al's opinion Ed may have gone a bit too far with aiming a weapon at the fuhrer._

_In the end they were both placed under Colonel Mustang and given the shared title of 'Fullmetal'._

The younger brother took the time to think over Ed's words, "Do you think that all this could be a lead on getting our bodies back?"

"I'm almost positive."

Al brought himself back to looking at Ed's arm once more. "Winry's gonna kill you."

"Not the first time." Ed mumbled, sounding tired.

"Then we might as well get some sleep." Al moved over, giving Ed room to lay down next to him.

* * *

As expected, Winry was just about ready to murder the boys when she saw Ed's arm.

Ed, for being careless, and Al for getting his ass kidnapped.

The visit had been eventful and they'd even met an annoying leech claiming to be a prince that wouldn't leave them the fuck alone.

After the clusterfuck that too way too much effort to live through, they were all heading back to central. Winry joining them to see Hughes.

Edward wanted to get right down to figuring out if his suspicions were true.

They had left Winry to do what she pleased as they headed towards Central command. However they didn't get too far before Al saw something that got the off track. He tugged on his brother's sleeve, breaking Ed's walking pace.

"What is it Al?"

"Brother, that woman."

They both looked over to see a woman in absolute hysterics, being chased by two mean in military uniforms.

"First lady please! Calm yourself!" one of the men called to her, but despite that she kept on running.

Alphonse ran over to the situation, Edward in tow.

"What's going on here!?" Edward asked, stepping in between the men and the woman.

"We are appointed to escort First Lady Bradley wherever she goes, but it is ill advised to go disturb her husband while he is working." one of the men informed. "What business is that to some child?"

Edward smirked and gave Al a look. They both flashed their watches at them. "We're state alchemists. Our title is Fullmetal. I believe we both outrank you."

Alphonse turned to the woman, "What's going on?"

The first lady caught her breath a bit, "I- my husband hadn't been home for around a week but while he was gone our son… he went missing." Alphonse's eyes widened at that. "I reported it the day he was missing but, I've gotten no response. I need my child back, and if I go right to my husband I should get this through faster!" she exhaled sharply, "These men believe I should wait until he gets home later tonight."

"How long has he been missing?" Ed questioned.

"Four days, no ransom note, no anything, I don't believe he would run away, I just don't know what to do." she began to tear up.

"Four days?!" Ed looked to Al. "I think you need to see your husband immediately." Edward looked to the soldiers behind them, "My brother and I will escort the first lady to her husband."

Al seemed a bit nervous at the notion but joined Ed, "You two should wait until we return to escort her home."

The men offered a salute, "Yes sir, but we must at least escort you into the command building."

"Fine, but then you wait downstairs." Alphonse reasoned. The men nodded and they all walked into central command together.

They managed to make their way to the Fuhrer's office with some use of their titles and some tears from Mrs. Bradley. Upon their arrival they made their way in, Edward giving a half assed salute while Al did the best one he could muster.

Mrs. Bradley burst in, "King! Its an emergency!"

Bradley only seemed slightly surprised, "Morgan, what's going on?"

"It's Selim! He's gone missing! I haven't seen him in days! I tried reporting it but nothing seems to have gotten through. We need to get our son back."

Bradley's face was oddly calm. "I'll get some men on it right away, I can assure you Morgan, we will find him, thank you for telling me." he glanced towards the elric brothers, "At ease Fullmetal." the two boys relaxed their salutes, "Why are you escorting my wife here?"

"Her private escorts wouldn't let her see you sir." Edward answered, "We saw the commotion and intervened."

"I see," he looked to Alphonse, "I see you are better Alphonse, glad to see you back on your feet."

Al looked down a bit, feeling intimidated after his last encounter with Bradley, "Yes sir."

Morgan looked a bit concerned, "Did something happen?"

Bradley nodded, "The younger of the Fullmetal Alchemists was abducted not too long ago, but we were able to liberate the place and get him out of there."

Morgan's eyes lit up, "So." She turned to the brothers, "You've dealt with abduction before!?"

"Uh, yes." Al swallowed.

Morgans hair whipped around as she turned back to her husband, "King, can you place these boys on the case, I believe they can find Selim."

Bradley seemed to squint his eye shut in thought, his eyebrows bowing a bit with stress before returning to their original stoic positions.

A loud laugh came from the Fuhrer as he stood, "Alright then Fullmetal, what do you say?"

"O-of course sir!" Alphonse responded with a salute, Ed flashed a look at Al that said 'we need to discuss this more' but followed with a salute of his own.

"Okay then, I'll get the information of this case to your commanding officer, for now you both are dismissed.

"Thank you sir." Alphonse curtly left, Ed in tow.

As soon as they left the office, Ed spoke up.

"Alphonse what the hell!? We were supposed to investigate more about what happened back in Dublith."

"I'm sorry brother." Alphonse rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I just couldn't leave Mrs. Bradley in such shambles, she seems sick with worry over her son. And who knows? This could lead us to something interesting."

"I guess." Ed grumbled, "But as soon as we find the kid, we get back on track, got it?"

"Got it brother!"

"Alright then, let's get moving!"

* * *

Pride kneeled before the throne his father sat upon. "Father, my container is failing me. It won't last much longer." His skin was breaking at the seams, Envy, Gluttony, and Lust surrounded him.

"Not to worry my child." The blonde man before him spoke. "It seems the time has come for you to lose your container, it was bound to happen eventually, but not to worry, a new one will soon be ready."

Pride's philosopher's stone was removed from his container and whatever was left of it turned to dust, the draft of the tunnels taking it away.

A sharp cackle sounded above them. Greed was bound up high, a vat of what looked to be lava beneath him. "Awe! Big brother finally comes home to visit and he has to go! How sad! That's your first loyal child lost paps!"

The man clothed in white looked back at Greed. "I only let you watch that so you would know that there is a painless alternative Greed. Those who go against me, will always suffer."

Then he was lowered into the vat. Screaming and cackling the whole time. He was melted down until only his philosopher's stone remained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time things get REALLY interesting. Thanks for reading! Be sure to give me some feedback! They keep me writing!


	2. Shit Goes Down (Below Central)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed and Al search for the missing Selim, but end up in a whole entirely new bucket of bullshit.

Edward was getting kinda pissed. Where the fuck was Mustang?

 

They had looked everywhere, his office, the cafeteria, even the men’s room. Al told his brother to calm down, offering him a seat next to him on a bench. 

 

Edward was just about to give up when Mustang ran right into them.

 

“There you are Colonel Bastard.” Ed crossed his arms as he stood.

 

Al did a quick salute and waved politely, “Hello Colonel!”

 

Mustang handed a stack of papers to them, “I see you’ve been busy. You have only been in Central for what? Five minutes?”

 

“Half a day asshole.” Ed flipped through the files, “So this is what the kid looks like, he seems pretty young.” Al leaned over to get a better look at the picture.

 

“There’s a lot of information in there to get you started.” Mustang seemed quick to get out of there, Hawkeye in tow.

 

Before they could escape however, Alphonse called out to them, “Oh! Wait! Is Mr. Hughes in his office today? We wanted to check up with him.” They had asked him to look into some suspicious things before they’d left after all.

 

Mustang seemed to tense, but relaxed before facing the boys. “Hughes has moved out to the country for family reasons.”

 

“Oh?” Edward seemed confused, “That’s odd, he never mentioned it to us.”

 

“It was a very quick move.” Mustang shrugged and continued to walk away.

 

“Wait, didn’t Winry go to visit the Hughes’?” Al asked.   
  
“Shit right, we’ve gotta get to Winry, or else we might lose track of her.

 

Hawkeye looked towards Mustang as the brothers ran off to where they suspected Winry would be. “Why didn’t you just tell them sir?”

 

Mustang’s face showed something reminiscent of a sad smile, “They already hate me enough, telling them myself would only make them hate me a bit more.”

 

Hawkeye looked downwards, “If that’s what you’d like to believe sir.”

 

The brothers arrived at the scene, only to hear a sobbing girl inside of the home. 

 

Edward and Alphonse hesitantly knocked, and were surprised to see Gracia open the door.

 

“Oh, Edward, Alphonse. Come in.”

 

“Mrs. Hughes…” Al felt a sense of dread, “We were told you moved to the country with your husband.”

 

She looked back towards Winry, “I don’t-”

 

But the blonde interrupted her, “It’s Mr. Hughes! He’s- he’s in a Coma!”

The visit soon turned into a crying party, Alphonse and Winry were openly sobbing into each other while Ed wasn’t really shedding any tears, just holding onto them both.

 

Gracia had brought them tea that had long ago gotten cold, and the new tissue box she had brought alongside the tea had been thoroughly torn apart.

 

“That Bastard. He lied to us.” Ed clenched his fist in anger.

 

“I’m sure he- Al hiccuped, “Had a reason to lie bruh-” he sniffed, “ther.”

 

“Please don’t blame him.” Gracia came into the room, “He’s been really messed up over this too, no matter how collected he tries to look.” she looked down, He probably couldn’t bear to talk about it himself.”

 

Eventually, Al managed to pull himself out of Winry’s grip and calm down enough to speak, “Mrs. Hughes?”

 

“Yes Alphonse?”

 

“Where is he?”

 

“Central hospital. Feel free to visit anytime, say you’re family, I’ll vouch for you.”

 

Al teared up again, “Thank you.”

 

Ed stood up and picked up his coat which had been discarded on the floor, “I think it’s time Alphonse and I head out. We have something we promised we would look into as soon as possible.”

 

Al frowned and let go of Winry, “Feel here to stay here Winry, or to wait at the hotel. We don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

 

Winry sniffled, “Don’t go breaking your arm like an idiot again.”

 

Ed smiled a bit, “Can’t make any promises.”

 

Winry gave him a glare that told Ed it was time for him to leave. Alphonse followed him out with a wave.

 

The brothers got some drinks at a nearby cafe to cool down while looking over the case.

 

“So, the last place he was seen was the Fuhrer’s mansion playing in the backyard. The guards heard a suspicious noise and went to investigate, when they returned only minutes later, Selim was gone.” Ed pursed his lips.

 

“Sounds like a well planned abduction to me.” Al hummed in thought.   
  
“More like shitty guards.” Ed shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “I don’t know where to begin, should we just start going around with his picture in the area he was last seen?”

 

“That might work.” Al grabbed the image, he seems like he would be pretty recognizable. You don’t often see kids in suits.”

 

“Okay then, let’s start there.” Ed chugged down the rest of his drink, causing some to spill on his shirt, not that he really cared. He called a thanks to the waitress and left 1400 cens on the table as a tip.

 

And so they began asking around, but didn’t get many results.

 

“Haven’t seen him, sorry.”   
  
“So that’s what his son looks like!”

 

“I knew the Fuhrer was the kind of guy to dress his baby in a suit!”

 

“He’s eight…”   
  
“Whatever.”

 

The search seemed like it was pretty much a dead end until they asked a very tired looking man talking about flowers in front of a market.

 

“Have I seen him? I dunno I’ve seen a lot of people?” he shrugged them off, but his small daughter beside him saw the picture, and her eyes seemed to light up.

 

“Oh! I’ve seen that boy! Two days ago! I saw his suit and thought about how cool and grown up it was!”

 

“Where did you see him!?” Alphonse asked. She pointed down towards an alleyway, it was narrow and hard to see from the street. He went in there!”

 

“Was anyone with him?” Ed questioned.

 

“Nope!” the girl popped the P of her word a bit.

 

Ed seemed a bit confused but looked toward the alleyway she had pointed to, it was definitely small, hard to notice, why would Selim go there alone?

 

Alphonse thanked the girl before he and Ed raced towards the place she’d claimed to see Selim. 

What they found there, was not what they expected, a familiar person was there.

 

“Wait I know that person, they’re dangerous…” 

 

“Wasn’t that person at the fifth laboratory?” 

 

“Yep, I have a feeling they’re behind all of this… let’s follow em’.”

 

The narrow place felt claustrophobic, and just being in there gave them a sense of dread. 

 

There was a gate that was cracked open by the skinny stranger, squeaking in the wind that seemed to go underground.

 

“Let’s hope we don’t find a body.” Al uttered.”

 

Ed exhaled, “Yea…”

 

They walked down, seeing the familiar person not too far ahead. What they also saw unnerved them quite a bit. Snarling teeth and glowing eyes glared down at them from the ceiling.

 

But, they didn’t seem to be attacking them, so the brothers tensely moved forward, now holding each other’s hands.

 

It was actually quite a while before the scenery changed, but it was enough to snap Edward out his tense composure, and shift to his ‘I’m gonna kick your ass’ composure.

 

“HOHENHEIM!?” 

“What the hell is the pipsqueak and his brother doing here?” the black haired stranger asked, whipping around.

 

“I’M NOT FUCKIN SMALL!” Edward stepped forwards, “AND I’M HERE TO FIND THE CHILD YOU GUYS STOLE!”

 

The man clothed in white seemed confused, “Child?” he looked to Envy, “Did you take a child Envy?”

 

Envy shrugged, “No, what reason would I have?”

 

“Don’t play dumb! The fuhrer’s son was sighted coming here two days ago! Now talk!”

 

“Oh that.” The blonde man seemed to look up in thought, “That does seem bad now doesn’t it. But we can’t kill them because they’re sacrifices. What to do…”

 

“S-sacrifices?” Al Asked, stepping back. “What do you mean... dad?”

 

Envy gave him an odd look, “Dad? I think you’re confused kid. The only ones he is a father to is of my siblings and I.”

 

“But he-”

 

“Don’t act like you don’t know Hohenheim! Leaving us for whatever the hell this is!?” Edward snarled.

 

The man blinked before seeming to come to a revelation. “Oh! Hohenheim! Yes, I see, you must be his children.” he seemed to laugh to himself. “Can’t believe he actually got that family he’d always wanted.”

 

Ed looked like he was about to bite his head off when he charged, only to be restrained by the floor around him. It wrapped around his limbs and curved around his neck. Ed froze in shock, the man hadn’t even had to clap, let alone use a transmutation circle.

 

“Ah well, now you both know too much, what to do.” the man casually sighed.

 

Envy responded in a far too casual way, “We could lock them up.”

 

The man rang his hand through his beard, “Yes true, but are they worth the trouble of maintaining like that? People would grow suspicious after all.” Envy shrugged in response

 

Alphonse transmuted his arm into his own knife and charged as well, only to be stopped by Envy, who pinned him to the ground. Alphonse winced in pain as his knife hit his other arm, causing it to heavily bleed.

 

The man saw the blood seeping and seemed to get an idea. “Ah, he is a sacrifice but, it would keep the other in line…” he held a red stone in his hand. He walked over to Al.

 

“Hey! What the hell are you doing!?” Ed yelled in anger.

 

But he just kept getting closer to Al.   
  
“Restrain him Envy, a sacrifice should be able to handle something like this, he’s been through worse after all.” The man forced the red stone to turn to liquid as it seeped into Alphonse’s cut.

 

He screamed.

 

Edward went into panic mode when after struggling and straining for several long minutes, Alphonse’s body went limp.

 

The shaking and writhing had just completely stopped out of nowhere. This couldn’t be happening, his little brother wasn’t dead.

 

“ALPHONSE! Al! Please! No, you’ve gotta wake up!” Edwards breath caught in his throat as Al’s body seemed to respond, he slowly got onto his hands and knees before rising, looking as if the last few minutes hadn’t happened at all.

 

He looked around, almost curiously. “Al!” Edward called out to him, but he only spared Ed a small glance.

 

The man who resembled Hohenheim looked down upon him and spoke, “You are the physical embodiment of my pride, and you may call me Father. I created you for a reason, and do you know that reason Pride?”

 

“Of course Father.” a small, calm smile grew on Alphonse’s face.

 

“Al? Hey Al!? What’s-”

 

“Shut it already pipsqueak, can’t you see he isn’t in there anymore?” Envy’s smile was vicious.

 

“What the hell do you mean!?” Ed snarled back, “Alphonse! Talk to me!”

 

Alphonse turned to look at Ed with his golden eyes that were now tinted purple, “If you are speaking to me, my name is not Alphonse. Did you not hear Father call me Pride?” he moved his torn shirt aside, revealing a tattoo in the shape of an ouroboros.

 

Edward’s breath hitched in his chest, that was the same tattoo the other homunculi had.

 

“I don’t- what the hell is going on!?” Edward seemed a bit flustered but attempted to stand his ground. Even though he wasn’t even standing moments later when the things binding him were released, throwing Ed off balance and sending him to the ground.

 

Ed rubbed at his head that had hit the ground, snarling, but turned at Alphonse’s voice. 

 

“Humans, how pitiful.” yet at the same time, the voice wasn’t Alphonse. Though similar, this voice had a tone to it that seemed to be bragging about everything. His golden eyes that looked at him as if he were a simple rock on the ground had a purple glaze to them. His teeth were also much sharper than he remembered.

 

Ed glared, “You’re not Alphonse.”

 

“No shit sherlock.” he laughed a bit.

 

“What did you do to him!?” Edward demanded, running towards the man once more, but this time being stopped by Pride, who only had to stand there and let his shadows grab onto Edward and restrained him.

 

“You’re brother is being used as leverage over your head. We can’t have you going off to tell everyone in Amestris about this, and we can’t kill you, so from now on Pride will escort you everywhere you go.”

 

Edward was about to object when Pride spoke first, “I accept this duty father, thank you.”

 

Edward choked out a chuckle, “What’s the point of having him around if it’s not even Alphonse?”

 

Pride rolled his eyes, “Oh he’s still in here, and he’s annoying as hell, you should hear him.” Pride seemed to morph his voice to better imitate Alphonse, “Oh! Let me go! I want my body back! Boo hoo hoo!”

 

“Damn it.” Edward clenched his fist. They actually had him. “What the hell do you want with me? Do I work for you or something now?”

 

“Of course not.” The bearded man’s voice echoed, “Why would I need the service of a simple human like you? Your only job is to continue with your life and do as you please, without violating my demands.” he looked over to the boy standing across the room, “Pride is here to make sure of that.”

 

Pride smirked, “Come on _ brother mine. _ We have a few scores to settle.”

 

The rest of the day was exhausting and stressful for Ed. He had just left the room where Pride spoke some words that were far too harsh to the first lady.

 

“Your son is dead. These things happen.”

 

Ed had to restrain from scoffin at the irony of it all. Over the course of the afternoon he’d found out Selim Bradley was a homunculus and the person Selim was now just told his own technical mother that he was dead.

 

It was kinda really positively fucked up.

 

The thing that had really begun to irk Ed the most however was the friendliness with Envy. The palm tree had taken them back up into command and gave Ed the rundown he never wanted to hear.

 

Pride seemed to like Envy and laugh with him at stuff Ed didn’t find all that funny. Mostly jokes at his own expense.

 

Edward missed his brother a lot.

 

At the very least, he wasn’t told to stop finding a way to restore their bodies, and for some reason, even with the freaky healing Alphonse now had, Pride couldn’t grow the arm and leg back, it was the first thing he’d tried. It had honestly disgusted Edward. How dare he after the brothers had vowed to not use a philosopher's stone.

 

Edward was tired and ready to head back to the hotel when he remembered, “Shit. Winry.”

 

“Who?” Pride turned to Ed.

 

“None of your business.” Ed barked.

 

Pride only laughed, “Oh dear brother of mine, everything that’s yours is mine now, and that includes any business of yours.”

 

Ed huffed, “She’s a friend of my brother and I thats in Central with us. She is either back at the hotel or at a place we are never ever visiting again with you around. I hope it’s the latter.”

 

“Awe, I love meeting new people though… I’m sure I’ll meet her sometime then.” Ed’s face held a constant emotion of ‘very tired and done with shit’ as he climbed the stairs to his room and unlocked the door, grateful to see that Winry was nowhere to be found. 

 

And so Edward walked in and collapsed on his bed. His head raging with a migraine.

 

“Hah, hilarious how you need to sleep.”

 

Edward grabbed his pillow and shoved it over his ears. Hoping that the torment that was Pride would end soon.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember to give me some feedback with a kudos or a review! They really keep me writing! Thanks!


	3. The Pride and the Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A series of unfortunate events for Pride leads to fortunate news for Alphonse.

Ed found himself pleasantly, yet suspiciously surprised to find that Pride was quiet, and much less abrasive (and much less outwardly rude), once he awoke.

 

Pride was awake already by the time Ed first began to blink the sleep out of his eyes, Edward assumed he had been awake all night due to his comment the night before.

 

He looked well put together, he had gone through Al’s wardrobe and grabbed his most formal garments, though he seemed overdressed for any occasion that they could possibly be attending that day.

 

“About time you awoke _ dear brother mine _ .” Pride grinned at him in an antagonistic way.

 

Ed exhaled sharply out of his nostrils, “Oh fuck off Pride.”

 

Alphonse’s face took on an exaggerated, hurt expression, “Is that any way to speak to our precious little brother?” he blinked twice, stepping closer to Edward.

 

“You’ll never pass as him.” Ed took a swig of water from his dresser, but found himself gagging on it as sharp, shadow like tendrils forced him backwards onto his bed.

 

“Oh I’m a very good actor Edward.” it sounded as if multiple voices were speaking at once, “I only enjoy messing with you.”

 

A bead of sweat ran down Ed’s head as the sharp tendrils retracted, leaving him coughing with water running down his chest, soaking into his shirt.

 

“Humans are so disgusting sometimes.” he turned and promptly walked to the door, “I’m leaving, and it’s in your best interest to do so as well.”

 

Ed grumbled to himself as he pulled his clothes out of his bag to dress himself. Once he was dressed with his hair braided, he stepped out the door to find Pride waiting outside, “So what are we doing today brother mine?”

 

His tone and posture were almost exactly like Alphonse. It had shaken Edward a bit, but he only exhaled and gave Pride a side glance. “I need to speak to the colonel about why he lied to me. It was real fucked up and I want answers.”

 

“You really should be more respectful of your commanding officer, I’m sure he has his reasons.” they both walked by the front desk of the military hotel and headed out the door.

 

Pride stopped and looked around as Edward began to walk to Central Command. “Oh brother?” 

 

Ed looked up with an eyebrow crooked.

 

“Shouldn’t we hail a taxi? Its dreadfully hot out, and we don’t want to get all sweaty on that walk to Command.”

 

Ed turned around with a deadpan expression, “It’s not far, we walk there every day, sweat never bothered you before, _ right? _ ” his words hid a challenge for Pride, one the homunculus seemed to begrudgingly accept, simply huffing and following Edward.

 

Upon reaching their destination, Pride looked slightly miffed at the fact that he was sweaty, but otherwise kept a well done facade of Alphonse.

 

Upon reaching Mustang’s office, they found no trace of the Colonel, only a Lieutenant Hawkeye, completely unfazed by Edward kicking the door open with a shout of ‘Bastard!’.

 

“Hello Edward, Alphonse.”   
  
“Where the hell is Mustang?!” Ed demanded.

 

“He’s working on a personal issue that Falman has at the moment, he’s unavailable right now.” She adjusted her paper stack so it was evened out, “Did you need to see him?”

 

Ed bit his lip, “Fuck yea I do, I wanna know why he lied to me!”

 

Riza blinked and looked back down at her papers with a slight frown, “I apologize Edward, he thought it was for the best that you didn’t hear it from him.”

 

He shut his eyes and bit his tongue, brooding over his anger as Hawkeye looked to ‘Alphonse’ who had been oddly silent.

 

“I hope it didn’t hit you too hard Alphonse.”

 

He only smiled at her with a calm expression, “I’m just fine Lieutenant, I’m more level headed than my brother after all.”

 

Hawkeye momentarily gained an odd, questioning expression, before returning to her previous frown, “Right…” she cleared her throat, “If you want to speak to Mustang you will have to come back another time, he may be back later today.”

 

“Then we’ll be back.” Ed grumbled, walking out the door.

 

“Of course.” Hawkeye responded, giving a salute.”

 

‘Alphonse’ stopped before leaving, giving her a smile and saying, “At ease.” before taking his leave as well.

 

Hawkeye released her salute and gathered up more of Mustang’s messy paperwork as she watched the boys leave with careful eyes.

The walk was silent as they made their way to the exit, Ed was deep in thought about Hawkeye, why had she done that? The lieutenant knows they don’t like to be saluted… however his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp shriek.

 

Ed watched as Pride was sent flying down the large staircase they were descending, hitting every stair on the way down, finally landing face first on the ground.

 

Edward could only blink a couple times before running down the stairs to see what happened, but a lady at a nearby desk had beat him to it. She helped the boy up and asked if he was okay.

 

Edward was utterly shocked by his response.

 

“What the fu-fu-freak!? What? How?!” he seemed disoriented as he allowed her to help him stand. He held his head as Ed caught up to him.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I don’t know!?” tears were in his eyes.

 

“...” Ed swallowed, “Alphonse?”   
  


“Yea Ed?”

 

Alphonse was squeezed into a hug, and swiftly pulled aside as Ed called a thanks to the lady who’d helped Alphonse. They rushed into a bathroom where Ed kicked in all the stalls to be sure nobody was there. Once he was sure they were safe, he turned back to his brother. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

 

“I guess me too?” Al was sweating and sort of swaying. “I’m sorry brother but I’ve really gotta use the bathroom.”

 

Ed gained a confused expression before realizing that Al’s body hadn’t gotten a lot of human necessities since Pride had taken over.

 

“G-go ahead!” Ed allowed him to relieve himself. Al stumbled out of the stall and washed his hands before splashing the cold water on his face. “I’m so thirsty, and, hungry and tired. What was he doing…”

 

“Pride refused to eat, sleep, drink, or piss while he was in control.” Ed explained, “I think he’s too damn arrogant to do so.”

 

“Mm,” Al shook his head a bit, “How did I get control back?”

 

“Maybe he was just so embarrassed by everything.” Ed pondered.

 

“What?” Al gave him an odd look.

 

Ed held up a hand to his chin, “Well he seems to want to appear as someone who is as perfect as a human can get, he picked out a fancy ass outfit this morning, and then he insisted on a taxi this morning so he wouldn’t get sweaty by walking, but I managed to get him to walk with me. Though falling down the stairs must have been the icing on the cake with the background of how bad your body required basic human needs.

 

“So he got so embarrassed he couldn’t bear it anymore?” Al blinked a couple times.

 

“I guess? Don’t you remember that stuff?”

 

“Not really.” Al cleared his dry throat, “I only get bits and pieces of what’s going on. He was real awful to poor Mrs. Bradley.”

 

“Yea, we can always count on him to be an asshole…” Ed trailed off, “Anyways, we should probably find Winry while you’re still in control. Who knows for how long.”

 

“You’re right.” Al agreed, splashing some more water on his face before giving Ed a thumbs up.

 

They rushed outside and began to head back to the hotel, “I think Winry should be back by now, but I don’t know if we should tell her… after all she just got a really big shock.”

 

“Yea, and I think it may not be a good idea cause, I can feel Pride watching… its creepy.”

 

Ed’s head whipped around, “Is he taking back control?!”

 

Al shook his head, “No, just watching… I don’t think he’s able to take it back yet.”

 

“Good.” Ed ran up the stairs to the hotel room and threw open the door, halfway unsurprised to find Winry sitting on Al’s bed with something in her hands.

 

“You’re back.” she gave them a slight, sad smile.

 

Ed wiped the sweat off of his forehead, “Uh, yeah.”

 

Winry tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Al “What are you wearing?”

 

“My other clothes are uh, filthy. So I’m a bit overdressed.”

 

Winry chuckled a bit as she held out the piece of folded paper out to the boys. “Elicia made it, she wanted all of us to sign it so we could go and give it to Mr. Hughes together… so he can read it when he wakes up.” she sniffled for a moment and looked away.

 

“Sure.” Ed carefully took the card out of Winry’s hands and looked inside of it while Al read over his shoulder.

 

It was scribbled in pink and purple with yellow hearts all around. Elicia had messy letters saying “Get well Daddy” while Winry had written her own message. There was enough room for Ed and Al to add their own messages in a plain space above the scribbled crayon stick figures Elicia had drawn of all of them holding hands.

 

Ed wrote his own message before handing it to Al, Alphonse ran his fingers over Elicia’s drawing before taking the pen from Ed and adding his own words for Maes.

 

Once finished, Al handed the card back to Winry. She took it from Al’s hands and placed it gently in her bag.

 

“Gracia asked if you guys wanted to visit the hospital with us to deliver it, even though he-he won’t be- able…”

 

“Of course.” Alphonse answered.

 

“We best get moving then…”

 

They arrived at the Hughes’ home with smiles for Elicia that hid frowns of deep remorse.

 

Winry let the smaller girl ride on her shoulders as they walked to the hospital together as the sun began its descent from the sky, tinting it with orange.

 

The hospital seemed to clean and too busy, too much life compared to the empty feeling inside of them as they stepped into Hughes’ room.

 

There were tubes and wired and IVs all hooked up to him in many different places. It looked so sad, his face was peaceful, and his face was pale, but the rise and fall of his chest was consistent. And it was enough to put them at ease.

 

Winry handed the card to Elicia, who carefully stepped towards her father’s bed, “Hi daddy! It’s me! I have a card! I drew a picture on it! Mommy, me, big brothers, and big sister signed it! Just for you! So… wake up real fast so you can read it!”

 

Elicia continued her words for her father while Gracia had turned away, tears trailing down her face as her eyes were fixed upon a newspaper.

 

“Mrs. Hughes, is-” Edward’s words caught in his throat as he read the newspaper. “Mrs. Hughes I, what the h-” he looked at Elicia, “H-heck is this?”

 

“They say this woman put my husband in this condition, this Maria Ross…”

 

“What?!” Alphonse jumped at the name. “That-it can’t be! She would never-”

 

“I don’t know, but it says she’s to be killed…” Gracia trailed off.

 

“I’m sorry Mrs. Hughes but we need to do something right now.” Edward grabbed Al’s hand and tugged him along. 

 

Winry chased them out, “Wait! Where-”

 

“Go back to the hotel! We’ll be back!” Edward turned to her.

 

“But-”

 

“Please, just. Once you’re done here, please.” Ed exhaled.

 

“I… alright.” Winry nodded and Ed did the same before dashing off.

 

As Ed caught up to Alphonse he could see tears trailing down his younger brother’s cheeks. “Al-”

 

Suddenly Al’s knees buckled and he feel to the ground, “ALPHONSE!” Ed grabbed his younger brothers arm, only to have it thrown back at him. Al stood up and almost casually flicked the tears away. 

 

“How embarrassing, why’s he such a crybaby?” 

 

Ed grit his teeth, “Pride.”

 

“I have to admit, you had me there for a bit but you can’t get rid of me forever.” Pride began to fix Al’s tussled up hair.

 

“Fuck off, I have places to go.” Edward pushed by him but was stopped by a shadow wrapped around his foot. 

 

“Not without me, now what is happening with this Maria Ross?” Pride released the shadow and held out a hand to help him up with a shit eating smirk.

 

“You aren’t gonna stop me!”

 

“I have no reason to, I haven’t a clue of who she is. You can do whatever the hell you please as long as I’m watching you.” Edward rejected his outstretched hand and pushed himself to his feet.

 

“Fine just don’t get in my way.”

 

“I don’t plan to. Just remember that I’ve got my eye on you.” Pride fully sheathed his shadow.

 

“How could I forget.” Ed exhaled before continuing off to where he was going in the first place.

 

Edward ran into her sooner than expected, “Lieutenant Ross!?” he’d run into an alleyway shortcut but ended up finding Ross, and a couple other unexpected faces.

 

“Hey Ed! You look cute today!”

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Ed asked the Xingese boy, who only shrugged in response. 

 

Pride arrived behind Ed and surveyed the situation, one person in particular sparked his interest, in fact it looked like he sparked their interest too.

 

“You!” The armored man ran towards Pride I almost missed the chance to chop you up!”

 

Pride’s shadows quickly blocked his attacks, “Who’s this dumbass?” he turned to Ed.

 

“Some weird guy in line with you and your freaky friends… I think.” Ed shook his head, look we have to-”

 

“Run!” Barry called to Maria, who took his advice and ran the other direction, into an even darker looking alley.

 

“Lieutenant Wait!” The struggle continued as Barry went for Ed to keep him from following her.

 

Then in an instant it felt like Edwards ears were exploding. He covered them up as he heard a fiery boom, clear as day from the direction Maria had gone. 

 

In a frenzy of adrenaline he ripped his way past Barry and ran down the alleyway to find Mustang, standing over charred remains. “Hey Fullmetal.”

 

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Its been a WHILE, honestly what made me get my ass in gear was a recent comment from a reader! About four days ago it made me realize, "Oh people like this, I guess I gotta write."


	4. Tense Shoulders, Emotional Borders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lotta shit happens. Ed finally gets some time away from Pride and has some semblance of a conversation with his father. Meanwhile Al and Winry can only watch as Ling hikes up the room service bill.

“Don’t you say a fucking word to Winry understand?!” Ed shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket as Pride trailed behind him.

 

“Whatever you say dear brother mine.” Ed could feel Pride’s shit eating grin behind him.

 

Ed took a deep breath and opened the door to the room. Winry was in the same place she was last time, sitting on Al’s bed. She looked up from her twiddling thumbs to Ed and stood, “What happened?”

 

“Mustang fucking burnt her to a crisp.” Ed gritted his teeth.

 

“Oh…” Winry fell back onto Al’s bed.

 

“The bastard didn’t even hesitate.” his shoulders hitched, “She didn’t do it she couldn’t have, Hughes isn’t even dead and yet he still- damn bastard!” he threw himself to the bed beside Winry.

 

“I’m so sorry Ed, I, I don’t know what to say.” 

 

“Brother dear you really need to stop being so damn dramatic.”

 

Winry suddenly pushed herself up without hesitation. “Al, what the hell? Mustang burnt someone to death! Don’t you even care!? You were crying over her earlier!”

 

‘Alphonse’ blinked as Winry stepped towards him. “And what’s with this “Brother Dear’ bullshit!? Ed is really upset right now! You must have got something seriously wrong with you!” she shoved her pointer finger in his face, causing him to take a flustered step back.

 

“I-I just-”

 

Ed sat up at Pride’s stuttering, that was new. “Why don’t you care damn it!?” Winry threw her head towards him, causing him to fall on the floor.

 

“Now now, we should all just calm the fuck down.” ‘Al’ held up his hands.

 

Winry raised an eyebrow, “Who the fuck are you and what have you done with our little brother!?” she grabbed her wrench off of her toolbelt.

 

Pride exhaled sharply and grit his teeth, then seemingly to nobody he said, “Yea I know I screwed up, now fuck off.”

 

Winry stepped back and Ed got in front of her. “What-”

 

“Now I guess I can’t really hide it, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to screw with Ed again.” Al’s eyes turned purple and his voice multiplied, “I’m something you would call a,” shadows consumed the room, “Homunculus.”

 

“Where is Al?!” Winry stepped ahead of Ed.

 

“Yelling at me in my head. God he’s annoying.” Pride crossed his arms.

 

“Why did you tell her?!” Ed pulled Winry back.

 

“She already knew something was up, may as well take it to the extremes.” Pride shrugged, his shadows retracting a little but still moving beneath him.

 

“What are you gonna do to her!?” Ed asked, holdin Winry behind him.

 

“Don’t get your boxers in a bunch.” Pride sighed, “As long as she want’s Al to be safe she aint gonna tell anyone. So she isn’t gonna tell anybody, right Winry?” she yelped as a shadows twisted around her ankle.

 

Ed was silent as he squeezed Winry’s hand reassuringly. 

 

“Now, let’s all just,” the shadows retracted, “Settle down.”

 

Winry stepped back and carefully sat down on the bed. “Okay, okay, what?”

 

“I’m not explaining it again.” Pride rolled his purple eyes.

 

“But ho-” a knock on the door interrupted her question.

 

Ed stalked over to the door, knocking Pride’s shoulder with his own before opening the door.

 

“Edward Elric! How wonderful to see you!”

 

Ed sighed, he had never been so relieved to see those sweaty bulging muscles. “Major Armstrong, what do you need?” a small smile was offered.

 

Instead of a proper response, Armstrong grabbed his automail arm and pulled Ed out of the room. “Look at this sorry state of your automail! We must go to Resembool to fix it immediately!”

 

Pride quickly stepped out, “I don’t see anything wrong with-”

 

“Ah! Alphonse Elric! Glad to see your automail is in perfect condition as always! Only your brother is required to go while you can remain here!”

 

“Anywhere you take Ed-” Pride suddenly got a bit choked up and his demeanor completely changed. He suddenly began rubbing the back of his neck with an anxious grin, “Y-yea I guess you’re right Major, I’ll stay here until he gets back.”

 

Ed grinned a bit to see Al was back, but began to squirm and object as he was picked up like a kitten and thrown under the major’s arm. “Goodbye then!” and just like that they were gone.

 

Winry stepped out even more disoriented and confused, “What the hell just happened?”

 

Al gave her a pure smile, “It was to get him away from Pride, I’m sure of it. It looks like he has messed up more than once.”

 

Winry reached out a hand, “Al, is that you?”

 

“Yup!” he beamed at her.

 

“Well you are acting more like yourself but, how can I be sure?” Winry looked at him suspiciously.

 

“Ah you’ve got me!” Al said dramatically, falling into her arms. “Its me the dastardly homunculus!” She looked down at him, and he looked up at her, it was silent for a moment before he gave her a quick peck on the nose and she began to giggle.

 

“Okay! Okay! It's you!” she laughed and walked back into the room, halfway dragging Alphonse in. 

 

“Hello.” A cheerful grin suddenly stopped her in her tracks and she dropped Al to the floor.

 

“Ling?” Al asked, tilting his head.

 

“Yup! That’s right!” Ling gave them a thumbs up.

 

“How did you get in here!?” Winry asked.

 

“The window, you left it unlocked, it was practically an invitation. I thought it would be best to not come in through the front since I’m you know a,” he made a strange motion, sticking his head into the bend of one of his arms and shooting his other arm straight upwards, “Wanted Criminal.”

 

Al and Winry blinked, “What the fuck was that?”

 

“A Dab? You’ve never heard of dabbing? Damn Amestrians are weird.” he laughed it off and his expression shifted to something more serious.

 

“Right…” Al trailed off, “So why are you here?”

 

“I’m seeking your secret of course.” He responded matter of factly.

“I saw how you fought Barry the Chopper, that was not normal Alchemy, something perhaps a philosopher’s stone could achieve?”

 

“Oh god.” Al sighed, here they went again.

 

Ed stretched out and yawned as they arrived at Resembool that train ride always gave him a crook in the neck. He looked up towards the Major with an exhausted expression. “Why are we out here again? You haven’t told me shit.”

 

“There is much to discuss Edward Elric.”

 

“Right…” Ed took that information and put it in the back of his brain for further processing as he looked around. There were some familiar people about, mostly people he had grown up around. Jackson Tremley that kid he’d gone to school with seemed to be waitin for someone at the station. There were also the Friegers who were walking by with their crops to sell at the market. Though there was one familiar face he hadn't expected.

 

“Breda?” Breda gave a salute which armstrong returned.

 

“This is one of those secret things huh?” Ed sighed, already somehow more tired of Mustang’s bullshit than before. “If Mustang had something to say then he could have told me himself back in Central.”

 

“There’s some things that are unsafe to discuss in places like that Ed.” Breda said matter of factly as Armstrong seemed to sparkle in agreement.

 

Ed groaned and followed them on the path that lead back to the old house that he’d spent many days at growing up. “Let’s hope Granny doesn’t kill me for bringing more military dogs back.” he rubbed the back of his neck before opening the door and letting himself inside.

 

He found Pinako standing in the front room looking expectant, “The tea’s already on, at least your friends had the damn courtesy to call in advance.” 

 

Once the tea had been laid out in front of everyone, the conversation began immediately. 

 

“Now Ed, we have orders, orders to get some information from you about Alphonse.” Breda sipped his tea and made a face, he obviously was more of a coffee type of guy.

 

“About Al, oh.” Ed’s demeanor tensed a bit.

 

“Lieutenant Hawkeye told us something was wrong about him when she last spoke to him, she believed something was wrong, but you couldn’t say anything near him.”

 

Ed sighed, “You ain’t gonna believe a bit of this but, Al is sharing his body with an evil homunculus who wants to take over the country. Ya know everyday bullshit.” Ed dropped a block of sugar into his tea and stirred it irritably.

 

Armstrong dropped his teacup, causing it to shatter on the table.

 

“...”

 

“My apologies Miss Rockbell, I will repair it.”

 

“Hmm.” Pinako sipped her tea as if she was unbothered. “You sound just like your father Ed. Just a tad less looney.”

 

Ed quirked an eyebrow at her, “What the hell Granny?”

 

“Now tell us in more detail what happened to your brother.” 

 

Ed cracked his knuckles and told the everything he knew. About the place under Central, and about the and who looked like his father, and the one who had invaded Al’s body like a virus.

 

The table was silent as Ed looked down at his lap, gritting his teeth.

 

“Pinako, you never told me you were having guests, I would have woken up before noon-”

 

“FUCKING BASTARD!” Ed lunged forwards, causing Hohenheim to fall back.

 

“Wha-who?”

 

“You don’t recognize your own son that you fucking abandoned!?” Ed snarled as Breda held the back of the little angry cat’s shirt.

 

“Oh so that’s why he looks like me…” Hohenheim stood up and dusted himself off.

 

“I don’t look like shit!” Ed snarled.

 

“This has become a very tense situation.” Hohenheim stepped back with his hands up, “I’ll excuse myself.”

 

“GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU CAN’T EXCUSE SHIT!”

The next two hours consisted of holding back Ed and attempting to have a conversation. Thankfully Ed had seemed to run out of steam after two hours of rage.

 

“I think I know what happened to Alphonse. Edward, that man is not me, but a doppelganger that has been a thorn in my side for far too long.”

 

“I gathered that at least bastard, that guy thought he was some god or something wearing a white bathrobe or some shit. You look like a confused Llama.” 

 

“...I honestly don’t know how to respond to that Edward.”

 

_ “GOOD.” _

 

The older man sighed, “I don’t know a way to fix this, I honestly wish I did, but no matter what I do… I am going to try to stop what he’s trying to do. With all my might.”

 

“Great then, so we’re fucked.”

 

Outside on the porch, Breda and Armstrong could hear the muffled voices and hoped that it would end soon. Thankfully, not too much sooner Hohenheim walked out onto the porch and simply waved at them before walking down the path that lead to the train station.

 

Ed was quick to scramble to the door and yell, “Good riddance!”

 

Breda sighed, “Are you done Ed?”

 

Ed looked absolutely exhausted as he nodded with a huff.

 

“Good, cause you’ve gotta get to bed if you want to rest before our trip tomorrow.” Breda responded.

 

“Back to Central?”

 

“Something like that…”

“Oh boy! This sure is fun!” Ling sounded absolutely gleeful. He clapped his hands together, “So how would I get one of those nifty things?!” he took a bite of a frosted pastry.

 

Al swallowed a bit uncomfortably, “Uh, well I don’t know I was given this one against my will… and then a homunculus took over my body. I don’t really think this is the best course of action…” 

 

“So?” custard was all over his face.

 

Al sighed, “Do you really have to be eating that right now?”

 

Ling looked offended with his mouthful of pastry, “Of course I do, hypoglycemia, I’m diabetic.”

 

Winry looked confused, “Wait but won’t that make your blood sugar high?”

 

Ling shrugged, “It isn’t much of an issue when you scale buildings several times a day.”

 

Winry seemed to consider it for a moment before accepting it.

 

“Anyways” Ling cleaned off his face and licked his fingers, “You said what took your body is a homunculus, right Al?”

 

“Yea?”

 

“Well I have some information that was supposed to be confidential but I feel could be in both of our interests.” Ling smirked.

 

“What is it?” Al perked up.

 

“He said he had a plan to chase after those people from lab five, the ones who had abilities just like yours.”

 

Al looked at Winry, “They’re going after the homunculi, I have to help.” he stood.

 

“Al wait!” Winry grabbed his arm, “What if Pride takes control again!?”

 

Alphonse looked down, a bit unsure, “I’ll have to figure that out as it comes.”

 

Winry’s breath hitched a bit as she inhaled, “I can’t stop you can I, you’re just as damn stubborn as Ed.”

 

“I’m sorry Winry.” Al squeezed her hand, “I promise, I’ll make it back here, alive.”

 

“You better.” she squeezed Al’s hand back.

 

Al released her hand and turned to Ling, “Hey, I want you to stay here with Winry, Ling… Please?”

 

Ling’s expression got a bit more serious as he nodded, “Sure thing.”

 

“Thanks, I’ll be back soon.” and with that he ran off.

 

_ “Don’t try anything brat, I can see everything you know.” _

 

“I’m a lot stronger than you think Pride.” Al’s eyes gleamed with determination as he raced down the sidewalk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ling is type one diabetic I will take that to my deathbed. 
> 
> Remember to give me a kudos or a review if you enjoyed it! It really motivates me to keep on writing!


	5. What makes a mother?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphonse rushes into the action and gets himself into quite a difficult situation.

The scene that Alphonse came upon was chaotic. Havoc and Falman were both masked with their guns aimed at some decomposed looking fleshy human with Barry talking about chopping someone up as usual. Havoc seemed to have some loud objection to that.

 

Al was about to add in his two cents when several gunshots came from a tower not too far from them. The commotion was loud and clear for everyone on the ground to see and hear. It only seemed to end when a fiery explosion sprung outwards, forcing something to fall out of the tower and onto a street below.

 

“That had to be Mustang.” Falman observed.

 

“Shit! He’s getting away!” Havoc’s call alerted them to the decomposing man who was now racing atop buildings in the other direction. “Let’s regroup with Mustang.”

 

They all raced to the car with Al in tow, he wasn’t even sure if the rest of the team had noticed him yet.

 

It wasn’t long before they’d reached the car, Hawkeye getting into the passenger seat while Mustang was already in the drivers side. Her watchful eyes immediately noticed Alphonse running after the boys. She held up her hand as a signal for everyone to stop.

 

They all halted in confusion but followed her lead as she pointed at Al.

 

“Shit I didn’t even notice he was there.” Havoc stepped back and looked to Hawkeye, “Didn’t Armstrong’s intel say-”

 

Her cold glare made him shut his mouth as she stepped forwards towards the smaller boy. “Fullmetal.” She greeted.

 

“Lieutenant.” Al stopped in his path huffing and puffing, “I want to- help you-”

 

“I don’t believe your assistance in necessary Fullmetal.” she turned back to the car. 

 

Al blinked, “Why are you using my codename? Listen I-” he coughed a bit as he struggled once more to catch his breath. As he heaved he put more thought into how they were acting. “I don’t know why I’m putting you all on edge that is… unless you know.”

 

“Know what?” Havoc had his hand on his gun.

 

“Is that why you took Ed to Resembool? Because everything he said is true, my body was taken by a homunculus, but I’ve stolen it back!”

 

Hawkeye stepped back towards him, her gun placed back in its holster. She looked into Al’s eyes. The pure molten gold was gleaming with determination. She nodded and looked to the team, “It’s alright.”

 

“Thank you Lieutenant.” Al climbed into the backseat.

 

“Wait, how can we-”

 

“We can trust him Falman, for now.” The other men accepted her answer with a grain of salt and climbed in as well, next to Alphonse.

 

Mustang leaned out the window a bit towards Barry, “Where did he go?”

 

“He went that way,” The armor pointed, “I can still trace him… it’s like this intuition I’ve got, I just need to slice him up!” a maniacal cackle escaped him as he took off, Mustang quickly hitting the gas in pursuit.

 

As Mustang drove, the interrogation began. “We trust you for now Alphonse, but we need more information, tell us everything you know.”

 

“Okay, so well, brother and I were looking into a child disappearance, but it lead us underneath central… and some stuff happened… and they forced a philosopher’s stone into me.”

 

“Wait, an actual philosopher's stone!?” Mustang turned and looked at him causing the car to swerve a bit towards Barry.

 

“Hey! Watch it Colonel!” The metal man yelled.

 

“You have a philosopher’s stone inside of you!? That’s what being a homunculus means!?”

 

“I-I guess?” Al shrugged, “I don’t really know how to use it though, nor do I plan on it even if I could. Only Pride can use it. It gives him advanced healing, and the ability to control shadows…”

 

“So how do we know you’re not Pride?” Falman questioned.

 

“Why the heck would I be telling you this?” Al looked at him ridiculously. “Just telling you all is a threat to my brother and I’s safety.”

 

“I believe him.” Hawkeye simply stated, glancing at the backseat through the mirror.

 

With her words, everything went silent.

 

Soon enough, the man was sighted heading into a military laboratory, which queued the team to step out of the car and scope out the situation. 

 

The team peered around the corner, “It seems that it may not be safe to follow him in we’ll stop here for-”

 

“Fuck that shit, I’m going in.” metal footsteps echoed against the stone walls as Barry pursued his body.

 

Mustang seemed to have a small seizure before smacking his forehead in defeat, “Damn it, let’s go.”

 

The team found themselves running through the halls, yelling at people to stay back because ‘a murderer was on the loose’. Well, it wasn’t exactly untrue…

 

Alphonse felt a bit awkward himself without a gun but held his stature the best he could. He wasn’t used to being without his brother to back him up.

 

They’d eventually reached a basement and absolutely everything about it felt wrong, of course they had to go directly inside of it.

 

They’d split up, him and Hawkeye, Mustang and Havoc. Falman had stayed outside with the car.

 

The hall was long and dark and it sent chills up his spine, but he continued forwards, Hawkeye’s presence putting him more at ease.

 

_ “This place giving you chills up your spine?”  _ Pride’s voice sounded like it was teasing him.

 

“Shut up.” he uttered.

 

_ “Looks to me like someone is afraid of the dark.” _

 

Al shut his eyes for a moment and didn’t respond. He simply continued to run.

 

But both of them came to a halt when they heard the explosion.

 

Al looked up at Riza, not knowing what to do. She looked back, swiftly turned, and ran on ahead once more. So Alphonse followed, hoping everyone was okay.

 

What awaited them at the end of the hall was not what they’d expected. In the stark white room Barry was standing over the decomposed body, cleaver in hand. It was all chopped up and it looked lifeless.

 

“There, I finally did it.” he clutched his cleaver, “I’ve finally chopped up the only thing that matters.” he sounded gleeful enough to make Alphonse feel sick.

 

The silence that followed as broken by loud footsteps that came from the opposite side of the room. A tall, pale woman with dark red eyes walked towards them. She was clothed entirely in black, her dress, shoes, and gloves all greatly contrasting the bright white of the room.

 

“So many trespassers today.”

 

Barry turned to her, “Hello Lusty, I was wondering when you would show up.”

 

“Number sixty six.” she greeted, casually, “How come you’re working with the colonel now? Dd we not give you enough to stick your cleaver into?” she glanced at Al curiously, “Now Pride, why did you let them get this far?”

 

Al’s breath hitched, but he stood up a bit straighter, “I am not Pride, I am stronger than that homunculus.”

 

She blinked seemingly unfazed, “I see.”

 

“Awe come on, it’s a lot of fun to switch up sides once in a while! Besides, I’ve been wanting to slice you into pieces since I met you!” Barry charged at her, but was quickly sliced into pieces, scrap metal was all that remained. 

 

“Sad, it’s the second person I had to kill today.”

 

Al felt a sharp pain in his chest, he couldn’t do this anymore. The next thing he knew he was inside his mind, and Pride was in control of his body.

 

“Now where was I…” Lust trailed off, “Right I was about to send the lieutenant to join her superior.” Hawkeye began to sweat as she drew her gun.

 

“Now wait a second!” her breath hitched, “When you said you already had to kill someone-”

 

“I really do hate overconfident men.” she smirked.

 

Tears flowed from Hawkeye’s eyes,  **“YOU BITCH!”**

 

Then the gunshots came. One after another, they kept going and going, piercing Lust until her gun was shooting blanks. She fell to her knees sobbing. “Are you done yet?” the homunculus healed her wounds effortlessly.

 

A foot was pressed against Hawkeye’s back, “Humans really are pathetic.” 

 

Riza looked up at Al’s eyes, they had a glint of purple in them, this was not the boy she knew.

 

Lust’s smirk remained, “Nice to see you’ve finally arrived Pride.” she looked down on Hawkeye. “Now it’s time to join the Colonel.”

 

Riza fell limp, sobbing. Lust took a step forward as her nails sharpened into blades. She swung her hand upwards and swiped, only to slice through metal.

 

“No!” Alphonse was sweating, breathing heavily with his arms crossed ahead of him to protect Riza.

 

“What are you dong Pride!?” Lust snarled.

 

“I told you,” Al huffed, “I am stronger than he will ever be! No matter what happens I will always have the strength to keep going when there’s someone I need to save!” 

 

“No, Al, please just save yourself.” Hawkeye sounded broken beyond repair.

 

“No! I’m not leaving you!” Al persisted, not faltering even when Lust sliced clean through his automail arm, it fell to the floor in pieces.

 

“Damn it Alphonse just leave! Your brother is waiting for you! You have someone who loves you!” Hawkeye pleaded.

 

“No!” Al yelped as a deep cut was thrust into his arm as he clapped and rose up the ground around them, shielding them, “You have people out there who love you too! I can name many of them!” he turned and looked at her, tears pouring out his eyes, “One of those people, is me.” Lust’s blades broke through the wall as Al reinforced it, “So please! Don’t go giving up!”

 

“Al…”

 

“Both of us are getting out of here! I’m sick and tired of watching people die! Not when I can protect them! I’ll do whatever it takes!” he began to draw a circle with the hand he could use but before he could transmute anything, Lust sliced into his arm much deeper than before, also cutting off his automail leg.

 

Alphonse yelped in pain as he fell to the ground, blood spouting from his wounds. “Alphonse!” Riza caught him, scrambling to her knees, breath heavy. She held him close.

 

Then the explosion came.

 

Hawkeye looked up, eyes gleaming with disbelief at the man she’d believed to be dead. “Colonel!”

 

“Sorry I’m late,” his eyes burned with anger and pain that was buried deep down by adrenaline. Lust’s screams were drowned out by another snap of his fingers. 

 

Lust was enveloped in red sparks, “You! You should have bled out by now!”

 

Mustang pulled aside his jacket, “I seared the wound shut, you shouldn’t underestimate me.” another snap.

 

With the next shriek, Alphonse passed out.

When Pride opened his eyes, he was in a place he’d never been before.

 

The place was small, and it had a cozy feel to it. There was a kettle whistling of the stovetop of the kitchenette on the other side of the couch.

 

He stopped himself from wincing as he felt sharp pain from his flesh arm, It was heavily bandaged. He was about to take care of it when he heard a growl from beside him.

 

There was a small black and white shiba inu, it looked ready to pounce on him any second.

 

“Hayate.” a strict voice scolded. Hawkeye walked into the room with more medical supplies. She glanced over at Pride with an unreadable expression. “I was wondering who would be the one to wake up, I can’t say I’m surprised though Pride.”

 

Pride eyed her suspiciously, it only took her one look. “You don’t need those you know.”

 

“I can’t take you to a hospital, who knows what they’ll find in your blood.”

 

“I wasn’t saying I needed a hospital either lieutenant.” Red crackling and sparks flew along his arm. Hawkeye tried to object but paused as he ripped off the bandages.

 

The arm was perfectly fine.

 

“I see. Advanced healing.” she walked over to him with a damp cloth and helped him sit up.

 

“Woah there.” Pride objected, “I don’t need anyone’s help.” 

 

“Well I’d think it would be hard to sit up without an arm or leg.” Pride looked down, he hadn’t even realized his metal limbs were gone.

 

“Hmph.” he shrugged with his flesh arm as Hawkeye began to wipe off his face with the cloth. “What’s that for?” he sounded offended.

 

“I would imagine you don’t like to be filthy, and it’s not like you’re able to shower right this second.” she scrubbed his cheek, squishing it upwards.

 

“I do-” his objection died out as he felt a large wave of familiarity fall over him. He didn’t know why but it all felt so familiar… 

 

_ “Goodness, I have no idea how you get so filthy just playing in the yard.” a damp cloth was rubbed against his cheek. _

 

_ “Sorry mama! I was just having so much fun watching the birdies! But then they flew away! So I chased them, but I tripped and fell…” _

 

_ The woman’s green eyes looked down at him with love, “Well then, I can’t stop your curious spirit.” she placed a bandage on a scraped knee, “But I can clean you up after your adventures.” She mussed up his hair and smiled brightly. _

 

Pride found himself a bit confused. What the hell was that? Why did that woman seem so familiar? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he didn’t have much time to think on it as a cup of tea was placed in front of him, beside a plate with coffee cake resting atop of it. Hawkeye looked at him expectantly.

 

“Oh no,” Pride chuckled, “I don’t need to eat, I’m way above that.” a loud growl came from his stomach.

 

“Your body says otherwise.” Hawkeye sipped her tea.

 

_ “Dear, please you have to eat the rest of your veggies.” _

 

_ “But mama! I don’t like broccoli!” the woman gained a small grin. _

 

_ “Well, what if you weren’t a little boy, eating broccoli, but instead…” she picked one off of his plate. “A big dinosaur! Eating trees! Roar!” she took an over exaggerated bite of it. _

 

_ He giggled and began to roar as he ate the rest of the broccoli. _

 

Pride fell silent as he took a small, sophisticated bite.

 

Riza gained a small smile of her own as she sipped her tea and pet her still unnerved dog.

 

Pride eyes her with legitimate curiosity. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

 

“You know what they say,” she took a bite of her own coffee cake, “kill em’ with kindness.”

 

A calm and serene sort of silence prevailed as Pride lost himself once more.

 

_ He was laying against the kind woman, feeling sleepy. She was holding a book and reading it aloud to him. It felt peaceful. _

 

Pride found himself back inside of Al’s mind.

 

“Lieutenant Hawkeye?” Al asked, continuing to eat the coffee cake, with much less caution than Pride had taken.

 

“Nice to have you back Alphonse,” she continued to eat, “Winry should be here soon to help you with your automail, I told her minimal details over the phone though… you have a lot to explain.”

 

Al exhaled, “I bet I do…” he gulped down his tea in a quick manner before letting himself lay back down onto the couch.

 

Things fell back into silence but a voice rang in his head, “ _ Alphonse, do you have a mother?” _

 

Al seemed perplexed by the question but answered, “Yea, I did, why do you ask?”

 

_ “Is she kind? Is she a good mother?” _

 

“Uh yeah…”

 

_ “What does she look like?” _

 

Al quirked an eyebrow, “She had brown hair, and green eyes… she was pretty…”

 

_ “Where is she?”  _ Pride asked.

 

“Dead…”

 

_ “Oh.”  _

 

Silence fell over them once more. Pride worked everything out in his head and figured that perhaps what he was seeing wasn’t his memories, just Al’s memories. Pride almost found it laughable that he’d even thought that he’d ever had a mother. 

 

The very idea of having one was ridiculous.

 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Remember to give me any feedback you have! I love hearing from you! Thanks!


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